The Last Supper Restoration

Institute History

  • 1997 Theatre Lab

Description

THE LAST SUPPER RESTORATION dramatizes the deathbed delusions of Bob Sarafin, a contemporary New York shirt designer and artist manqué, who is drawn into a dreamlike narrative that weaves the imagined story of Leonardo da Vinci with that of his own father, an art restorer in Milan during World War II. Comprised solely of a nucleus of contemporary characters close to Sarafin – who in turn will be called upon to inhabit an eclectic selection of historical figures from Sigmund Freud to Ezra Pound – THE LAST SUPPER RESTORATION is a meditation upon the power of secrecy, betrayal, and the possibility for human transcendence.

While writing LAST SUPPER, I was interested primarily in negotiating borders of memory and fantasy, self-will and determinism, and exploring the correlation between conceptions of both cultural and personal identity. Less theme-oriented – and perhaps most fundamental to the play’s origin – was a desire to explore the complexities and ultimate mystery of the love that exists between Sarafin and Caterina, to return to them a sense of dignity out of undignified circumstance, to restore a clear vision of themselves and of their life together.
—Dan O’Brien

Credits

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